We’ve always done it this way

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For the first time ever, all of our counties in the Griffin Judicial Circuit have terms of court that begin and end on the same day.

I know what you’re thinking. Big deal. Who cares? So what?

Of course, you’re right. It matters very little in the big picture when we hold court. But, you know how people are. Having a term of court start in Spalding County in March instead of February is like—well, moving Christmas to January. It violates the WADITW rule.

“We’ve always done it this way.”

If you ever want to stir up trouble, just break the WADITW rule. No matter where you are, the fur starts to fly.

Like church. Have you ever had a visiting preacher who wants to change the order of worship? Maybe he stops a hymn before all the verses have been sung. Or, he asks everybody to stand when they usually stay seated. Or, he reads from a different translation of the Bible. That guy is going to pay for violating the WADITW rule.

Maybe you have visited with family and stayed overnight. It’s important to know whether they wash the dishes before they put them in the dishwasher. You better find out if they put all the trash in the same place or if they sort out things for recycling. Exactly where are people permitted to park? Toilet lid up or down? Don’t go into somebody’s home and recklessly ignore WADITW.

So, the General Assembly stomped all over WADITW and changed our terms of court. Throwing tradition out the window, we now have two terms of court every year. They run from March to September and then from September to March.

And, you know what? Life goes on. In fact, very little has changed.

We still hold court when we want to. Juries still come for trials in Spalding in February, June and October. And, just about anytime else when the power is on at the courthouse. We just say that we are in the March Term while we hold court in June.

This could be huge. Maybe in this tiny spot on the globe we have established once and for all that just because “we’ve always done it this way” doesn’t mean that it is wrong to do things differently. Maybe folks all over the world will start to live on the edge a little, emboldened by our example. Newspaper headlines may scream, “Major Restaurant Chains Serve Dessert First.” Maybe the WADITW rule is abolished.

Fat chance. You see, we’ve always done it this way.

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